Climate change is a fact, and it is now virtually certain that human activities are having a significant influence.
And it is not just the scientists that think so. As Barclays' chief executive, John Varley, observed earlier this year, "There is no escaping the fact that climate change and its profound consequences are now firmly established as the most pressing and serious challenge facing mankind."
Furthermore, a Climate Change Bill is is now going through parliament that should make the UK the first country in the world to have legally enforceable carbon reduction targets. These are likely to be in the region of 25 to 30 per cent cuts by 2020 and a 60 per cent plus reduction by 2050.
Given this background, companies now face three clear options: do nothing; do something; or take the lead in their sector.
The first of these is in many ways the most tempting on the grounds that it is the cheapest… for now.
However, increasingly consumers will expect the companies they deal with to have a clear climate change strategy. Already, in some sectors, companies are losing business if they do not have a clear strategy, with government departments, for example, insisting potential suppliers submit details of their environmental credentials when bidding for contracts. Companies tendering for business from large companies, pensions funds and charities are being similarly evaluated on their environmental policies.
You may decide to do nothing now, but soon it will become a default that companies have a strategy on climate change and energy reduction.
The second option is to take some action to cut your carbon footprint. There are two drivers for such strategies – imminent customer pressure or that you are already losing business.
Whatever the motivation, any strategy on climate change must include a wide number of interdependent initiatives, the first of which has to be a means of measuring your carbon footprint. There are a wide range of organisations offering to do this for firms, including a number of free online services such as that offered by the Pure Trust.
Once you know your carbon footprint the next step is to put in place measures to reduce it, be it through energy efficiency measures or the sourcing of clean power. These will vary enormously from business to business, so it is critical to identify and implement the energy saving measure that best suit your organisation.
The success of any energy saving initiatives will rely heavily on staff input, so it is critical to communicate with them and involve them in what you are doing. Similarly, engagement with suppliers whereby they know what level of environmental performance is expected of them is critical to the success of any carbon reduction measures.
Ultimately, any attempt to reduce your business' carbon footprint has to be part of a long-term strategy, and as with any business transformation strategy constant, ongoing measurement, evaluation and review is essential to measure your progress over time.
Finally, if you are going to take action on climate change you need to try and generate commercial benefits from your environmental credentials beyond the cost savings that come with energy efficiency improvements. As such, it is vital you communicate with your customers and tell them what your business is doing about climate change, and what progress you are making. The media has a key role to play in any such customer engagement programme and therefore attempts to court the press should tie into any climate change strategy.
Such measures increasingly represent a minimum requirement for businesses in consumer-facing sectors such as retail and all the evidence suggests that action on climate change will become de rigeur. Which brings us to the final option for firms: leading your sector.
There are many companies that will aim to do something, but there are a few that aim to lead their sector. Such an approach can be high-risk because it involves hefty investment in the latest green technologies and business models, some of which may prove unsuccessful or even counter productive. But if the risks are large, the rewards could be bigger still.
There are precedents where taking a leadership position within an economic trend paid off. Friends Provident, for example, pioneered ethical investment 20 years ago and today its stewardship fund has 130,000 investors, and ethical credentials are an essential component of the company's brand.
Despite some risks, the climate change trend is already so entrenched that those firms that do take the lead in their sector are likely to attract more business because of it, and enhance their brand image and values.
The choices are simple. What is yours going to be?
Martin Fox is a director at marketing and climate change consultancy Stadbrooke Consultancy
